Angst In My Pangst

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
– G. K. Chesterton

It’s been raining the past couple of days. A steady drizzle that does not seem to stop. During the daytime, secure in an air-conditioned office, that’s not too much of a bother. By night, though, things are different. I have to take an auto to my place, even though it’s only a ten-minute walk away. I have an umbrella, and it’s pretty much working, but I can’t just stand getting my feet wet. And then when I come home, the house smells of damp clothes. The floor feels cold, when I have taken off my shoes. Mosquitoes seem to follow Agent Smith’s tenets ( go forth and replicate, the punctuation-ignoring Agent’s Bible says ), especially when there’s a powercut. Even my ancient cell-phone seems to be acting up with the weather, it’s visuals go blank if I leave it in the cold for a night. So the past two nights I have been keeping it snug under the blanket. Another bad thing about the rain is that I can’t go out ( as is my usual habit) to the neatest grocery store to buy some popcorn when I feel like seeing a movie.

I read the Spawn comic-book lot in a night. Smiling all the while. God! I had longed for lusted after Spawn comics so much once upon a time…cursing Guwahati and its bookshop owners who would bring all the second-rate Image titles like Brigade and Cyberforce and New Men, but not Spawn. Every comic-book catalogue was raving about how good Spawn was, the cool characters, the cool artwork, Todd McFarlane’s marketing skills – he was even coming up with his own action figure line called Todd Toys, and the upcoming movie.

So I saw a pirated print of the movie when it came out, didn’t figure out half of it, it was all blue and brown. And surprise! Spawn was a black guy. I didn’t know that!!! Later, I saw the movie properly on Star Movies, figured it out better, and thought it was an ok movie.

Well, now that I have finally read the comics, it’s nice to look back and give my first impressions.( First impressions, haha! )

The comics, all the stories, are really slow. It’s all supposed to be part of an ongoing “epic” tale, but the solo story does not stand up on its own. You would have to read 4 issues or so together to feel like things are going at a steady pace. Much ado is made about Spawn’s introspective moments ( like most other deformed heroes, like Shrek and his elder brother, The Hulk, Spawn just wants to be left alone. ) He’s back from the Dead, bartering his soul to the demon Malebolgia – for a specific purpose – to reunite with his wife, Wanda. Malebolgia tricked him, though – he comes back from the dead five years in the future, disoriented, his memories nearly gone. The worst of all, his wife has remarried, and her new husband is his best friend.

Spawn is unsure about what he has to do, and he does not know what he is supposed to do, so the only thing he ends up doing is getting trapped in a number of situations.

The stories are pretty insipid, as far as comic stories go. The artwork is gorgeous! McFarlane was one of the first artists ( and Image the first company) to use digital colouring for his art, and the brilliance shows. (The letter columns are an equal balance of people who think his art is mediocre, lacking depth and perspective – and people who think he’s God. ) Gory, sinful images – Todd’s portrayal of the “everyday American Joe” turns out to be pretty quirky at time, every character is a delight to watch.

I had a major grouse against the movie – that of the ‘narrator’s voice’, a baritone that tries to give a commentary of whatever’s happening onscreen. What rot! Can’t you let the viewer figure out things by himself? But ok, the movie was only being true to the comics – there is this irritating commentary even here – with stuff like “What will happen in our hero’s life? Only time will tell.” and other 101 cliches.

Part of me felt that McFarlane was running out of ideas, so he took to hiring different writers to take on the writing responsibilities. Neil Gaiman was one of them, Grant Morrisson another, and even Alan Moore writing the Violator miniseries. The Comics I have include Morrison’s work, and it’s bloody good. Some of Gaiman’s characters, like Angela ( an emissary of Heaven, and hence opposed to Spawn) and Angels Gabrielle and Michelle keep popping up. Heh. Female versions of angels. Nice. :-)

I am happy.